AROMATICS
The focus in Asian aromatics markets towards the end of the month will be on the negotiations of monthly contract prices.
Asian paraxylene is expected to see a settlement of Sinopec's March contract price for the sale of PX this week, while in the international market, the Asian Contract Price negotiations for April will be concluded at the end of next week.
So far this month, PX prices are averaging at $883.90/mt CFR Taiwan/China, compared with a monthly average of $916.80/mt for February.
Over the previous week, the price rose $13.33/mt to $873/mt CFR Taiwan/China on Friday. The ACP settled at $905/mt for March.
Also, the April CP for benzene is expected to be concluded next week. Benzene prices were assessed at $809.50/mt FOB Korea last Friday, down $12.50/mt from the week before.
Benzene prices had by last week fallen $243.50/mt since a multi-year high of $1,053/mt FOB Korea on February 13. JX Nippon Oil & Energy's ACP for benzene was last settled at $980/mt for March.
CFR China toluene prices are expected to remain weaker this week amid a build in Chinese domestic inventories.
Stocks in East China stood at 118,000 mt last Friday, up 3,000 mt from the previous week. FOB Korea prices could remain weaker in line with softer prices into China.
The CFR China marker was assessed at $676.50/mt Friday, up $13.50/mt week on week while the FOB Korea marker was assessed at $658.50/mt, up $14.50/mt from the previous week.
Meanwhile, Chinese domestic styrene monomer prices rose last week by at least Yuan 300/mt week on week. The increase was bolstered by improved demand in the downstream expandable polystyrene market, sources said.
Inventory level in East China dropped by 2,800 mt from a week ago but was still considered relatively high at 156,800 mt.
Market participants will be monitoring whether the uptrend in Chinese domestic prices would be sustained and whether China's import demand would see an improvement.
OLEFINS
Propylene prices in Asia declined last week, because of weaker support from downstream derivatives such as polypropylene. While ongoing turnarounds have limited spot supply, this was offset by weaker demand.
The CFR China marker fell to $900/mt Friday, whereas it had been assessed at over $1,000/mt a few weeks ago. Market participants anticipated fundamentals to remain unchanged this week.
Chinese domestic prices for butadiene fell week on week last Friday amid thin demand from Chinese buyers and deepsea parcels offered by traders.
Twice last week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, state-run China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, slashed its offers in eastern China to Yuan 16,500/mt, or about $2,000/mt on an import parity basis, down Yuan 1,200/mt on Tuesday and down Yuan 800/mt on Wednesday.
Several South Korean producers opted to sell their April spot cargoes to domestic buyers as buying ideas were too far away from selling indications.
POLYMERS
Asian low density polyethylene prices fell $10-$20/mt last week on lackluster demand. Trading volumes remained low due to low cash reserves, amid the Chinese government's lockdown on commodity futures speculation, sources said.
Over January-February, linear low density polyethylene futures contracts traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange had shown a 55.13% decrease over the same period last year, according to statistics on the DCE website. Full-month March volumes were not yet available.
Falling Chinese domestic prices had opened the arbitrage window for China's polypropylene exports into both Southeast Asia and India, traders said.
Chinese domestic prompt prices continued to fall, by Yuan 150/mt week on week to Yuan 8,100/mt Wednesday last week, or down by about $19/mt to $941/mt on an import parity basis.
The arbitrage window could remain open this week, traders said.
